Friday, December 31, 2010

I have a feeling this movie is going to fly under the radar until Oscar buzz starts heating up. And when this film takes home a few awards then it will be at the top of Netflix most requested movie rentals and will probably make a decent second run at the box office. Firstly I want to point out that the advertising for Black Swan is a bit misleading, there is horror in this film but it is absolutely not supernatural in any way. The horror in Black Swan is much more terrifying because it is real and many people suffer from the same symptoms as Nina.Nina Sayers is young, beautiful, and a talented ballet dancer. She lives in New York City and has a very supportive mother. Nina is motivated to be the best and always gives 110%...all the qualities of a successful person.The ballet company Nina belongs to is planning a run of Swan Lake and she is trying out for the white swan but in this performance the person who wins the coveted role must also perform as the black swan, the "dark side" of the white swan. Nina is chosen to the chagrin of some of her peers and is accused of sleeping with Thomas Leroy, the director. In the directors eyes Nina is the empitomy of the white swan; beautiful, pure, fragile....perfect. Unfortunately Nina struggles to capture the essence of the blackswan. At the same time a new member joins the company, Lily. Lily is also a very talented dancer and befriends Nina. The two become close as Nina see's Lily's unrestrained, carefree lifestyle compared to her own overprotective mother and mundane existance as a missing aspect of her own life.. Nina continues to struggle to prove she is capable of performing the role as the Black Swan and the pressure begins to mount, the pressure to not loose the role she's always dreamt of begins to intensify, nail biting, picking at her scabs, and incessant scratching.By the end of the film Nina's paranoia overtakes her and she suffers from terrible hallucinations. Against all her obstacles Nina makes it to the show in time and overcomes her fears and pressures and gives the most memorable performance of her life...We all suffer from life's pressures every day, from homework that's due to stress at work, at home...where ever.The scary thing about Black Swan is how Nina's stress coupled with her penchant for obsessive compulsive behavior escalated her psychiatric symptoms, including self-mutilation (through scratching her shoulder and picking at her fingers, pulling away scabs) and hints of an eating disorder, all this led to a degree of psychosis via elaborate visual hallucinations fed by paranoia.Black Swan takes a serious look at how the pressures of life can destroy a person and I'm almost certain anyone who watches this film will be able to relate, to some degree, with Nina. This is definitely NOT a chick flick and I highly recommend this for either men or women to see.Natalie Portman does a remarkable job in this film and you can see how much she wanted this film to be made through her performance, not to mention she took a pay cut to get it made!The contrasts between Mila Kunis and Natalie Portman are subtle yet extremely effective, the dance styles, lifestyles, color of their clothes all are purposely due to reflect the two sides.....no not the Jedi and Sith, but the White Swan and Black Swan.This movie is a must see! Worth the price of admission.A

Friday, December 24, 2010

Merry Christmas from Free Swim! Remember while your in that euforic state when you open your gifts, why we're celebrating...Jesus Christ was born and all he got was frankensense, mir, and some cheddar. Nowadays he'd probably get a XBL gold gift card, cologne, and a candle from Yankee Candle Co.So take a moment and show a bit of respect because companies like WalMart and Rite Aid don't give a shit about anything but the allmighty dollar. I'm not trying to shove religion down anyone's throat but that kinda bothers me. Anyway have a great Christmas!

So V got re-uped for a second season...sorta. More like half a season as it will start January 4, 2011 and only be 10 episodes, better than nothing I suppose. Since the season finale there's been some interesting news regarding the show, first it was revealed that Jane Badler has been hiding the the bowels of Anna's ship. And Marc Singer is also returning....hopefully with looser fitting jeans!

Anakin...you're a fool! If you just listened to Obi Wan you would've been the happiest man in the entire galaxy! But no you had a bad dream and some possible jealousy issues and you go and choke your baby mama! If you only kknew how big of a freak Padme was....

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Yay a new Rango trailer, this looks fresh and enjoyable for the kids and adults. I am kinda tired of the Shrek, Ice Age and Toy Story movies and this really looks visually impressive and with Gore Verbinski directing and Johnny Dep voicing Rango my sons first movie might be Rango...

Wanna know what REALLY happens to Gandalf at the end of Peter Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring??Well the Balrog pulls Gandalf to the pit of middle erf and Gandalf battles the Balrog and finally defeats him. Then Gandalf falls asleep.......for a really long time!When he wakes up on the moon and finds he's no longer Gandalf the Grey....now....henceforth he will be known as Gandalfatron! Leader of the Decepticons!!!!!!Watch the teaser trailer for Bayformers and tell me you don't see Gandalf's mug on that bayformer!Here I did the work for you.

I honestly had discarded the latest PotC before I had seen the below trailer or knew anything about the story, not because Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan won't be in it but it kinda felt like the story for the most part concluded with PotC: @WE. I thought this movie was gonna stand out from the others kinda like Indiana Jones:AtKotCS but after seeing the trailer it looks kinda promising.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Ugh, well here's the first trailer for Transformers: (Lets try this a 3rd time) Dookie on the Moon. Apparently they don't have Onstar on Cybertron....who knows how long Goldbug there was sitting around on the moon.

It's about friggin time! I've been waiting since SSX3 for the next worthwhile installment of the series (sorry Blur & On Tour weren't it). I don't mind the new, more realistic imagining as long as they don't tinker with the controls. Honestly SSX3 was a perfect snowboarding game and I still enjoy playing it today. I hope they enhance the multiplayer to include wager matches introduced in COD Black Ops. And please bring back the series mainstays Mac, Elise, Moby, Allegra, Griff, Kaori, Zoe, Psymon, and Nate.

I have high hopes for SSX: DD, I'll be following this one till release. If you're a fan of SSX I recomend checking out http://www.merqurycity.com/ it's a great community of SSX fans!

Friday, December 10, 2010

Here's the music video for Daft Punk's Derezzed, one of the songs featured in Disney's upcoming Tron Legacy. This song has been used to promote the movie in an earlier released video. The song is aweome and the movie it's tied to looks very promising.

Naughty Dog just released the first teaser trailer for Uncharted 3 Drake's Deception, the teaser is only 40 seconds long but holds some secrets for those eagle eyed detectives. The teaser....and box art gives a clue to the environment Nathan Drake's newest adventure will take place in...the Arabian desert.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

The arcade version of SSFIV may have more than just Yun and Yang....the oft requested evil Ryu and "Oni/Shin" Akuma may be hidden jems. When will they arrive via DLC on consoles? At this rate Capcom should just announce "hey we're gonna eventually add all previous characters from SF, SFII,SFII, SFA, SFA2, SFA3" And here's a request from lil ol me, World Tour Mode was fun, add that mode via DLC.